Spruce Meadows, the ultimate Olympic proving ground

If there is a common denominator for sports fans in these parts, puck-chasing is it.Meaning Ian Allison knows how to get his point across.

“It’s one thing to be a 30-goal scorer in the Alberta (Junior) Hockey League,” says Allison, senior vice-president at Spruce Meadows. “It’s quite another to be a 30-goal scorer in the National Hockey League.”

Translation is straightforward. Big numbers are great. Big numbers on a big stage? Even more telling.

The big stage, in this case, is Calgary’s show-jumping campus, which serves as the handy litmus test for steely eyed appraisers of Olympic-calibre talent.

So, while winning elsewhere is lovely and all, performing well at Spruce Meadows means something — and maybe everything for Canadian hopefuls with an eye on the 2012 London Summer Games.

Horse-rider combinations, with their showings, will answer the question: Can you thrive on the best tracks against the best competition?

“Some may have been on the World Cup tour in Europe,” Allison says. “Some may have been in Florida. Some may have been in California. But they’re expecting all those up for (Olympic team) consideration to be at Spruce Meadows this summer. So they have a standard that they know is similar (to the Summer Games) and that they know is top international sport.”

Spruce Meadows, not surprisingly, is tickled to be part of this process. “The venue is chosen as a trial venue, which puts the onus on us — and we like the onus — to deliver the highest standard,” Allison says. “We’ve been voted No. 1 in the sport by the riders’ group two years in a row.”

Understandably.

For instance, as an added touch this summer, Spruce Meadows is putting to work Bob Ellis, who just happens to be the Olympic course designer, for the Continental tournament.

“So that those who might never have ridden his courses get a sense of what he’s about,” Allison says. “Not that he’ll play his hand.”

Canadian horse-rider combinations are vying for one of five spots — four, plus one travelling reserve — for the Summer Games.

In the running is perhaps a dozen combinations.

They have until June 16 — or, put another way, until the Saturday of the Continental tournament — to grab the eye of Torchy Millar, chef d’equipe for show jumping.

“It’s a combination of subjective and objective evaluation,” Allison says of the selection process. “They generally keep open a couple of coach’s choices. Ian Millar, does he have to prove himself to anybody? If he gets to London — all indications are that it’ll be his 10th Olympiad, starting from (1972) Munich and right through, and he’s still very much at the top of the sport.”

From the grey — Ian Millar, after all, is 65 years old — to the green, Reed Kessler, 17, is pushing hard for a spot on the U.S. squad. As a junior, she cut her teeth at Spruce Meadows.

“She’s No. 1 on their list right now,” Allison says. “Whether or not she continues at that level following the summer here . . . she’s certainly showed no signs of letting up.”

Clearly, during an Olympic year, Spruce Meadows receives an extra dash of drama.

“The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of sport, no matter what sport you’re in, no matter if you follow a sport with a particular degree of interest or not,” says Allison. “If someone indicates, ‘I’ve competed at the Olympic Games,’ regardless if they won, you know they’re good at their game.

“We’re an Olympic sport. And we’re a somewhat unique Olympic sport. It’s the only one where men and women compete on the same playing field against each other. It is a very global sport.”

Global, sure, but suddenly much of the sport’s noise is coming from this continent.

“The Americas are coming off a very strong 2008 Olympics (in Beijing),” Allison says. “Team gold for the United States. Team silver for Canada. Individual gold for Canada (and Eric Lamaze). So that’s interesting, and all the athletes are still in play, although Eric’s horse Hickstead passed away in November.”

Allison adds that, beyond the influence of the London Games, Spruce Meadows will feature a British flavour this season.

“We are a venue for the diamond jubilee celebrations (for Queen Elizabeth II) in Canada,” he says. “Our co-chairs (Ron and Margaret Southern) are very much monarchists. We’ve had a royal visit here. And the British were the first to send a top international team to Spruce Meadows in the 1970s. So there’s all sorts of reasons. We understand about the 100 years of the Stampede . . . but we aren’t the Stampede, the size and the magnitude. But we felt this would be very fitting — and we weren’t aware of anybody else doing it — so that’s the approach we’ve taken. And the road to the London Games really factors in as well.”

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